Among this week’s new Disney+ releases is a short called Remembering, produced and starring Brie Larson, which features a groundbreaking augmented reality component that jumps out of your TV. Larson collaborated on the project with her partner Elijah Allan-Blitz, who wrote and directed it. Ahead of Remembering’s debut, the couple showed the short to a number of major filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg, with hopes their AR creation will inspire the greater filmmaking community.
CinemaBlend had a chance to visit Walt Disney Studios Lot in Burbank, California this week to check out Remembering and speak with Larson and Allan-Blitz, alongside a couple other outlets. During the conversation, Larson shared why showing Steven Spielberg the short was an especially big moment for her. In her words:
[Spielberg] was somebody that cast me in my first big role when I was 18. And so we went to Amblin and showed it to him and it was a very full circle moment for me, because I felt like he gave me this gift. And then I felt like we were able to give him this gift of going, like, you know, this is something that he was always very interested in. And we were able to figure this out and it's something that [he] can use. He was like, can I use this? Yeah, this is to be used. So, [Remembering] is very special and it sort of just continues to expand my mind as to what's possible.
The legendary filmmaker known for all-time great movies like Jaws, Indiana Jones and E.T. cast Brie Larson in his Showtime series United States of Tara ahead of its 2009 premiere, which would go on to last for three seasons and win two Emmys. The series about a woman with dissociative identity disorder starring Toni Collette, had Larson playing a pivotal role in as the lead's daughter and was based on an idea by Spielberg.
As the actress shared, it was her “first big role” and had a place in bringing her to the position to work with Disney on Remembering, but as she also said, getting the project done was not an easy task. Larson continued:
We were told ‘no’ a lot of times. It's not like I'm like, ‘Hey, we've got this great idea, Disney, gimme a bunch of money to do it’. Like, it is still a process. Yes. I have privilege beyond what I had many years ago, but it takes a lot of conversation and it takes a lot of support. And I think one of the things that I've learned too through this is like, you never know who's gonna be your friend in the end.
Spielberg directed in virtual reality for one of his recent films, Ready Player One, but we’ll have to wait and find out if he decides to use Larson’s augmented reality for an upcoming project or not. Among the other filmmakers the couple showed the short to was Pulp Fiction and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood's Quentin Tarantino, who has been candid before about the “depressing” state of movie releases today. As Elijah Allan-Blitz shared:
I actually showed it to Quentin Tarantino and he's like, ‘So it's like 3D?’ And I was like, ‘No, no, it's not 3D. It'll actually come out [of the screen]’. And it’s hard to wrap your mind around until you actually can see it… Like, there's something that's gonna come out of your TV and into your living room and you can go up to the dolphins and it's like ‘What, what are you talking about? Like, is that possible?’
In a section of Remembering, which is a short revolved around tapping into one’s inner child, viewers with a Disney+ subscription can download the Remembering iOS app and witness the imaginative landscapes of the short come out of their TV and throughout their living room. While the couple doesn’t think their tech will be applicable to all stories, they are hoping it will help tell more interactive stories in the future. We’ll certainly have to see if and how it catches on.
